Ray McNulty: Fort Pierce Westwood football still a work in progress

You watch an outmanned team of overmatched players who lack the talent, experience and depth needed to compete against playoff-caliber opponents, and you shake your head.

You see a proud, once-successful high school program under reconstruction and struggling to restore its lost glory, and you wonder how long it will take.

It's what you don't hear about Fort Pierce Westwood football, though, that is most telling.

You don't hear anyone asking: Why? Because everyone knows.

Everyone in the Westwood community knows what has happened the past six years — all the turnover, all the transfers, all the turmoil.

Everyone knows the school's academic grade has been an embarrassment. And, by now, everyone should know how much damage has been done.

"It's a challenge," Westwood football coach Gene Clemons said this week, as his team prepared for its District 14-5A opener Friday at Jensen Beach.

"But, I'm from Tampa. I grew up in the projects, so I understand this community and I can relate to these kids. They're looking for people to be consistent."

Unfortunately, there has been nothing consistent about Westwood football.

Clemons is the school's fourth coach in six years, the latest in a tumultuous run that began with the inexplicable firing of Kevin McMahon, who was dumped in March 2008 after taking Westwood to the playoffs in seven of his 11 seasons there.

McMahon was replaced by Waides Ashmon, who led the Panthers to records of 10-2 and 8-4 in two seasons but resigned in June 2010 amid a second investigation into his conduct with players.

Next up was Rodrick Lawson, who guided Westwood to a 9-1 record and a district title, but was fired without explanation after one season.

Then came Clemons, who inherited a program that lost 17 seniors, most of them starters.

"The program lost a lot of good players," he said.

And it would lose more.

In fact, at least nine Westwood players have transferred to other schools since the end of the 2010 season — a list that includes Travares Copeland to Treasure Coast, Zerrie Patterson to Fort Pierce Central and, just recently, Rashad Pierce to St. Lucie West Centennial.

"It's not necessarily the numbers, it's the kids who left," Clemons said.

"In high school football, you lose a couple of good players and it's going to have a negative impact on your team. If you're in the situation we're in, where you're trying to rebuild a program, you really feel it."

Clemons has.

After a dismal 1-8 showing last season, the Panthers are 0-3 this season, having been routed by Central (43-0), Treasure Coast (47-6) and Vero Beach (49-0). And they're still seeking their first offensive touchdown.

"Obviously, when you take over any program, you look to the incumbents, to the players who have game experience, to people you can lean on," Clemons said.

"When you don't have those guys, it's a lot tougher. But a few of these kids transferred before I arrived, so I can't complain about kids I never had."

Truth is, the transfers have hurt Westwood's program more than all the coaching upheaval.

It's no coincidence, however, that so many players have transferred in the wake of the coaching turnover.

Not that you'd get an honest answer: FHSAA rules prohibit players from transferring for solely athletic reasons. And in most of the Westwood cases, it's obvious football was the reason.

Clemons accepts that as part of today's what's-best-for-me culture.

"I grew up in a different era, in a time where you knew what high school you were going to and you were proud to go there," he explained. "That kind of thinking is gone, and it starts at the top.

"It all started with free agency in the NFL. That has trickled down to the college ranks, where guys transfer if they don't like their situation.

"And with high school sports becoming more prominent with all the media coverage and games on ESPNU, it's trickled down to us — to where kids and their parents now look for the best fit, athletically.

"Now," he added, "you've got kids transferring to schools for athletic reasons, the same way they transfer for academic reasons or for certain arts programs. You've also got kids transferring because they're being recruited. That's nothing new. It's high school football's ugly little secret."

So Clemons has no choice but to build his program the old-fashioned way.

From the bottom.

He said he began laying a foundation for the future with last year's freshman class, and he'll continue to do so by making sure freshmen get the coaching they'll need to develop into starters as sophomores, juniors and seniors.

"We're building it the right way, where these kids feel loyalty and take pride in the program," Clemons said.

"We haven't had a lot of success on the field yet, but I'm encouraged by the way our kids have worked in practice competed in games. I'm excited about where we're headed because, although the scores don't show it, we're on the right track.

"It takes time to build this way, but I feel good about what we're doing and I don't think it's going to take as long as some other people think it's going to take."

Given what has happened the past six years, the Westwood community would be wise to give him more than a couple of years to rebuild a program that desperately needs stability.

Too much damage has been done to think there can be a quick fix.

"I'm all-in at Westwood High School and with what we're trying to do here," Clemons said, his voice filled with enthusiasm. "I'm not going anywhere, unless I'm told I'm not wanted anymore."

Let's hope the decision-makers at Westwood, where so many bad decisions have been made the past few years, look beyond the scoreboard and give Clemons a real chance.